Month: November 2018

I am such a sucker for small brands. It’s not that I’m a hater for a Too Faced or Colourpop, but there is something about a good David and Goliath story that gets me going. Therefore, I’m following up my less than stellar opinion of the new Karity Picante Palette, with a bouncy review of their Blush Bomb kit in Burgandy Blast.

I mean, if you check out their story, you can’t help but root for them. Their vision to bring you quality products without handing over half your paycheck really resonates with me. Mostly because I’m just your typical working class mom who has bills to pay, but also because it’s nice to see a small brand succeed.

While I didn’t particularly hate the Picante Palette, it really didn’t impress me much. Just the same warm toned colors regurgitated over with hit and miss success in pigmentation. Their Blush Bomb in the other hand, is a top shelf product in my makeup cart.

Yes, they came out with your usual pink, coral and peach palette, but it’s the fact that they also produced a dark berry Burgundy palette that really got me all excited.

Immediately, when I saw the matte shade “yas”, I thought of Kat Von D’s Lolita blush/eyeshadow pan that she came out with a few years back. However, unlike KVD’s berry blush that was patchy and hard to blend, the red in this palette is pigmented and blends beautifully.

In fact, I would really just lightly dip your brush and apply the tiniest bit, because it can quickly eacalate. Fair warning!

When we move one shade to the right with “sumptuous”, we land on my favorite. At first glance, you are like, that’s too shimmery to be a blush and, yes, it’s probably more of a blush topper, but I use it all on its own. Honestly, it’s not that shimmery and gives you a beautiful healthy glow. Once again, a little goes a long way, so need to go ham on this shade either.

The last shade is a golden highlighter called “lush” that I thought I would never be able to use because it would be too dark for me, but somehow it works. I find that it translates much lighter than it looks, which may disappoint darker complexions. Also, it’s not a particularly blinding highlight, but rather a more lit from within type of glow.

I also want to add that all three shades can do double duty as eyeshadows in a blink of an eye.

No pun intended.

One last thing, the Blush Bomb kits will run you $14.99, which I think is freaking awesome!!! For the quality and pigmentation, I think that is a winner.

Anyone else, pick one of these puppies up yet? If so, let me know what you think in the comments below.

Raise your hand if you never heard of Karity until around October when they sent a bunch of influencers PR packages and then your Instagram feed was diluted with pictures of their Picante and Rose All Day palettes.

(Raises Hand)

I may have been living under a hole, but I was like “Karity-who?” Well, their marketing campaign worked because not only did I pre-order the darn Picante palette, but apparently so did a crap load of other people, which created a bunch of shipping delays.

If you followed their Instagram, they sent out an apology email, blamed it on a shipping “glitch”, and now everyone loves them again.

Blah, blah, blah… just send me my damn palette, please.

Anyways, I got my palette like 2 weeks after the release, and I was begrudgingly impressed….somewhat. It’s quite a large palette, with 21 pans (11 shimmers, 10 mattes) and goes from light yellow all the way to dark purple. The colors are all warm, which keeps with the theme of the Picante or “Hot” theme and it’s actually beautiful for fall.

The mattes are fine. They are not super pigmented at application, but certainly buildable, which I actually prefer. I like blown out eye looks, so I find mattes that can be built and blended to my preferred strength are ideal for me. Flamenco, a bright coral, and Harvest, a deep pumpkin shade are the ones that I am naturally drawn too and I find perform really well.

Eyes: Delia, Aish, Bittersweet, Sass and Flora

The shimmers are equally nice. I wouldn’t say they are the blinding in any way, but if you go in with your finger or a wet brush you will get a nice pay off. A dry brush will definitely leave you disappointed. Flora, a spirited purple and Fuego, a peachy pink, are my standouts.

I will also mention that I didn’t feel that they had a lot of staying power unless I used an eye primer and used a setting spray like the Urban Decay All Nighter.

If I sound a little blasé with my review, its because after I took inventory of my palettes, I realized that I already have these colors in my arsenal. I don’t find this palette to be very revolutionary in its color story or formula and as a makeup junkie, I felt a little let down.

For example, if you own the Huda Beauty Desert Dusk, ABH Modern Renaissance or even Colourpop’s The Zodiac palettes, then you have all these shades in one way or another.

Yes, for $29.99 you probably get way more for your bang, so if you are just starting to get into makeup or aren’t very much into warm colors and want one palette to cover all your bases, then this is a good investment. However, if you are like me and have palettes coming out of your wazoo, then you might want to skip.

This is not a knock on Karity, as I ordered a Blush Bomb kit and was really impressed by it, but this palette was just ok.

What do you think? Did you like it? Let me know in the comments below.

Last week, I was able to take a break from the hum-drum and go on a 2 day cruise on the new Royal Caribbean Symphony of the Seas.

Yeah, it was a blink and it was gone kind of vacation, but sometimes that’s all you need to recharge your batteries.

Needless to say, the ship is gorgeous! We snagged a balcony on the interior facing their “Central Park”, which is a small promenade with shops and restaurants and loved how nice and quiet it was.

We also had a view of one of their pool slides from our balcony, which was really fun seeing people go down. You would be surprised how much flailing of arms there was, but in their defense, it was a pretty tall slide.

So Jose is not much of a picture taker. He always likes to make goofy faces, so getting a picture of us will will always resemble something like below.

The ship has main dining, but also specialty restaurants. They had one called Wonderland, that is themed around, you guessed it, Alice in Wonderland, and it was BEAUTIFUL!!! We were able to sample some of their food and drinks and it was delicious!

Another view of the interior of the ship from the pool deck. You see that leaf shaped glass roof in the bottom? That’s called the High Rise bar and it’s a floating bar that takes you from the 5th floor to about the 10th. We capped off the last night at the bar and it was great!

There is a mini golf course.

And a slide that takes you from the 16th floor to the 5th floor. It was a blast! We rode it twice!

The first night we had dinner at the Main Dining Room and I forgot my phone , but you are going to have to believe me that it was beautiful!

Most people were very causal the first day, so I opted for jeans and a cute top.

We also were treated to a fireworks display when we left the Port of Miami.

The second day we were in Nassau, but we have been there before, so we decided to just chill in the pool on the ship with a few margaritas and pina coladas.

Are you really on vacation if you don’t take “I’m on a Caribbean vacation” legs pic? I don’t think so.

Dinner the second night was a bit fancier as we met us with some friends for dinner and a show.

I love going to the mall and the thrill of the sale. However, not going to lie, most of my shopping will be done online this year.

It’s just so easy! Especially, if you are shopping for makeup because you don’t really have to try anything on. Yeah, swatching before you buy is good, but most of what I want are only from online stores anyways, so I will skip Sephora and Ulta this year in person and do it all from the comfort of my home.

I’m still going to the mall, just hitting Bath and Bodyworks for some candles and Victoria’s Secret for some bras. You know, the Black Friday basics.

So what will I be buying? First off, one item is technically not on sale (that I am aware of), but I’m a big fan of the brand and I always get their Disney collabs.

Take a guess?

If you said Besame, then you know me very well. I will be picking up their new Mickey Mouse lipstick and mirror set which debuts on Black Friday. I am sure it’s going to be expensive as crap, but I’m a sucker. We all know that!

I heard through the grapevine that Colourpop is having a Cyber MONDAY 30% off everything sale, so I have been patiently waiting to get my hands on the Good Sport palette and now seems like a great time do it as it should be reduced to $11.20, which is freaking fantastic. Might throw in some lux lipsticks to hit that $30 free shipping as well.

Now, this is a little secret between you and me, but another favorite indie brand of mine, Antonym Cosmetics, is having a 35% off sale, but it’s only for insiders, so if you want to score a nice deal on their products, make sure to sign up now on their website. You all know that their Baked Blush in Peach is my go to blush for any day of the year, but I’ve been coveting their Baked Highlighting Blush in Lily for a while now, but $42 is a bit steep for me, so grabbing it at $27.30 is pretty darn sweet!

Now, that’s all I’m getting, however, I will say that Sephora and Ulta has some pretty nice sales, that under normal circumstances, I would be partaking of, but seeing as I’m on a budget this year, I will be skipping. However, passing along my recommendations to you fine folks. Let’s call these Honorable Mentions or Maybe Next Year Items.

Sephora:

Pat McGrath MatteTrance Lipstick Mini: $15

Nest Black Tulip Set $12

Origins Glow On $12

Ulta

Dermalogica Glow Duo $12

Living Proof Perfect Hair Day Dry Shampoo $11.50

Laura Geller Baked Gelato Swirl Illuminator $13

Becca Glow On Trio $15

So what will you all be picking up this weekend? Sound off in the comments below.

Have you ever lusted over a brand, but have been unable to commit to buying something from it because it’s just too darn expensive and elusive.

Like the mythical unicorn, always just outside of your reach.

Well, Natasha Denona is my makeup unicorn. Her palettes are beautiful and cohesive and most importantly, expensive as crap!

$130 for a palette? Umm….I’ve got kids, Natasha! What are you thinking?

Colors left to right: Orion, Atik, Bellatrix, Earth, Cosmo

So, I have always stayed far away from her stuff because I just didn’t want to be tempted. However, a while back, she came out with mini 5 pan palettes, which I originally poo-pooed because they were so tiny, it was comical. I mean, they looked like something created for an American Girl doll.

Yet, the VIB sale rolled around and I pretty much got over how itty bitty it was because the first thing I added to my cart was the Mini Star Palette. I figured that with the sale, I would be getting this little beauty for about $20 and that was worth my while.

Well, I’m here to tell you that after playing with this palette while on vacation, I would not only pay full price for it, but I would probably pay $40 for it. That’s how much I loved it.

The eyeshadows in this palette are just so perfect and pigmented that it makes me want to save every penny I find on the streets to buy a full size ND palette. Not only is the formula great, but the colors will take you from glam to grunge in no time.

Colors: Orion, Atik, Bellatrix, Earth, Cosmo

Yes, the colors are definitely neutral, but don’t be deceived, there is a lot of depth to it. Consisting of 2 mattes and 3 metallics, you pretty much have everything you need to create any type of look.

You want an easy glam look? Blend the peachy matte called Atik on your crease. Add the chocolate brown, Earth, to the outer V and lower lash and tap some of Bellatrix’s rose gold goodness to the lid. Voila!

Eye look: Atik on the crease up to brow bone, Earth on the outer V and lower lash and Bellatrix on the lid

What about a more edgy, smoky look? Do the same as above with the two mattes, but add a layer of Orion to the lid. It has a peachy, brown undertone with an deep aqua shift and it adds this awesome grunginess to your eyes.

The only shade that I find myself skipping is the gold shade called Cosmo. Not because it doesn’t perform well, but because these type of gold coin colors are not my cup of tea. I like my golds a bit brighter. However, it nicely closes the loop in the color story and I can see how beautiful it would be combined with Earth for a nighttime look.

Seriously, folks. I am in love! I want to buy back ups of this palette. I want to be buried with it the same way Egyptian gods were buried with their cats.

Ok, that got weird, but you know what I mean.

What do you all think of this palette? Are there any Natasha Denona palettes that you recommend? Let me know in the comments below.

I am going on vacation, my friends!! Not only am I going to be away from work and the demons kids, but hubby and I are going to be cruising on Royal Caribbean’s newest ship, Symphony of the Seas, for their launch party.

Excited? Elated? What word am I looking for to describe how I feel?

How about…. Freaking Thrilled?

Yes, let’s go with that.

Anyways, since we are only going to be onboard for 2 days, I don’t really want to pack a whole lot of makeup, because I would rather be spending time drinking daiquiris than perfecting my wing liner, but you know that I am going to bring some of the good stuff. So my makeup bag is a nice mix of easy looks and a few nighttime goodies to spice things up for the clubs.

Eyes:

Natasha Denona Mini Star Palette – I just got this cutie during the VIB sale, so I have yet to use it, but I am banking on all the reviews and it’s friendly travel size to make this a good palette to take me from day to night.

However, if Natasha fails me, I am going to rely on my Too Faced Sugar Cookie palette to save the day. She has my back.

Physician Formula Healthy Foundation – I’m still loving this foundation and how it makes my skin look like skin, so definitely taking this with me as I don’t really want anything full coverage (although it is buildable) I just want my skin to look fresh and glowy.

Tarte Shape Tape – not even going to mess with anything else because this stuff is super reliable and when you are just going to lounge by the pool, you can just dot some of the product on your trouble spots and blend. No need to do a full face.

Karity Blush Bomb in Burgandy Blast– I just bought this blush kit and I am loving it. With two blushes, one matte and the other shimmer, and a highlighter, you can’t go wrong.

NARS Velvet Matte pencil in Cruella – you always need to be red lip ready. It immediately takes your look up a notch just standing next to it. This is a lip liner and matte pencil in one. The perfect combo.

Remember when I said that Besame Cosmetics has my credit card on file? Well, I was technically kidding, but they might as well have it because I practically buy everything they put out.

It’s a sickness! But a beautifully one because the Treasures of the Lagoon Shadow palette from their Peter Pan Collection is soooo pretty!

This is Besame’s second collab (4th if you count the Marvel ones) with Disney and in a year when every makeup brand is coming out with a Disney collab (ie Colourpop and Dose of Colors), I find that this one is way more unique. While the other two focused on more mainstream characters like the Princesses and Mickey, Besame stuck to their modern vintage motto and not only threw us a curveball going with Peter Pan, but specifically choosing the Mermaids as the theme of their collection.

Let’s face it, Peter, Wendy and the gang are fun, but the mermaids? They stole the show with their Regina George routine. Mermaids are Memorable!

The palette features 8 pans and, just like their Snow White Collection, drew inspiration from the actual ink and paints used during the making of the film. What you get is a fun and bright palette that, I would describe as half warm/half cool.

Now, the inexperienced makeup junkies like myself may look at this palette and find it difficult to create a look without dipping into other palettes because of the half/half situation we have going here, but I’m sure the more experienced artist won’t have a problem. Besides, I don’t mind going into other colors to create a finished look.

The green and blues are all metallics and swatch like a dream. I will say that I was a little disappointed to see that the the pearly white shade with a blue shift came broken, but I was able to press it back without a problem. I find this color to be the standout and as inner corner highlight the perfect touch when utilizing the other 3 shimmer shades.

The left half of the palette are the warm mattes. As I’ve come to expect, the plummy, Burgandy shade in the top center swatches a pit patchy, but does blend quite nicely with a brush. You will have to build it up, which I will the same for the brighter red just below it. However, the orange and yellow shades are very nicely pigmented and swatch like a dream. I really enjoyed using them in my crease and just about everywhere.

The palette does come with an itty bitty brush, which I can’t seem to find any other use for except the inner corner. I feel like it’s kind of unnecessary and if that’s what drove the price up to $48, then I would have preferred no brush as I’m pretty sure the Snow White palette debuted at around $38.

I am affiliated with Besame, so if you want to pick up the palette for yourself, feel free to use my link by clicking here. I will make a slight commission if you decide to purchase anything and for that, I thank you in advance!

Let me know if you have already picked up anything from this collection and what your thoughts are.

You ever watch any of the Friends Thanksgiving episodes and wonder why these people never celebrated with their families? For the longest time, I was like, “Where the heck are their parents?”

Well, it’s been about 23 years since Friends debuted and who would have thought Friendsgiving would be a thing now?

Also, why did it take our little rag tag group of peeps so long to decide to do our own Friendsgiving? We are so behind with the times.

Better late than never, I suppose.

This weekend, we decided to all get together and celebrate the best way we know how. With lots of food, music, laughs, discussion and most of all alcohol friends.

Also, yeah, we did have wine and a little bit of the Grey Goose. Just a bit… I swear! 😉

We decided to make it a potluck and the official rules, were that everything had to be homemade, but I did cheat and buy a cake for dessert. I’m not much of a baker.

We had all the traditional foods, like turkey, cornbread, sweet potatoes, stuffing, green beans and even a Hummingbird Cake, which I have never had and it was absolutely delicious!

Since there was no big game to watch in the TV, we decided to spend the day just talking and telling funny stories. Yes, we even discussed politics, but kept it civil. We are classy like that.

Of course, the day could not go undocumented, so a lot of pictures were taken. Check out our first ever Friendsgiving below and let me know if you have had your own. What do you guys do and is there anything special we should do next year?

The Girls! Michelle (maker of the delicious Hummingbird Cake), Yudy (Hostess with the Mostest), Me (brought the store bought cake), Janet (came late and didn’t eat anything!)The before picture and of course we forgot to take an after photo, but you can use your imagination.The Publix Pilgrims! Florida peeps, you know what I’m talking about!CenterpiecesI totally made those green beans!!The Hummingbird Cake!The chef!Hubby and Me!The Friends!The cutest cornbreads ever!!!You see how much love we had to give???Of course, there was a cute baby!!!Followed by a cute couple!And even cuter kids! Well, except Janet! She’s the adult in this pic.Of course, we had a “photo booth”.The Rodriguez Family!

Imagine my surprise, when I find myself at Macy’s with a little bit of money to burn and face to face with the Urban Decay Naked Cherry collection. I’m all like “Damn, it’s sooooo pretty!” and as much as I tried to resist, I went home with the blush kit, 1 lipstick and even the freaking setting spray.

Out of principle, I left the eye palette right where it was.

I was pretty excited to try these beauties. It’s not just the packaging, which is all smoky and sexy, but also the red tones in this collection. They just scream fall and holidays to me. From a marketing perspective, the release is perfect because people are naturally gravitating to these colors this time of year.

However, as usual for Urban Decay, this is not a perfect collection.

The metallic lipstick called Devilish ($18), that I picked up is actually quite nice, which is what we come to expect from their Vice lipstick collection. It is a bright pink that layered over darker shades is an excellent topper, but even on its own is a stand alone. The glittery particles are super fine and don’t appear chunky at all and if metallics are your thing, then I totally recommend this one.

I wish I can be as positive about the Highlight & Blush Palette ($34) as I am about the lipstick. There is a light peachy/ pink highlighter that is quite nice and I actually enjoy, but the matte blush and icier highlighter are just not worth spending the money on this kit.

The strawberry (I know this is a cherry palette, but it looks more ripe strawberry to me) colored blush looks beautiful in the pan, but it takes a Herculean amount of effort to get this to show up on your cheeks. I even switched to a stiffer brush to try to pick up some more product, but then was like, “why am I trying so hard?”. It should not take this much work to apply some damn blush!

The other highlighter is actually also a very pretty cooler toned one with a pink shift, but it was flaky in texture and, overall, I just don’t like my highlighters to be that white. Also, I didn’t find it to be very blinding as the color suggested it would be.

The setting spray is a Cherry inspired version of the Urban Decay All Nighter ($15) spray and it’s supposed to smell like cherries, but all I got was the same weird after smell that you find in their regular one. I don’t know if it’s just me, but the All Nighter has this stale glue smell after you apply it that drives me crazy, although I do think it performs very well.

Overall, I don’t think it’s worth all the hype. With so many berry toned beauty products in the market right now, I think you can skip these items for now.

I love the Sephora VIB sale, but having it so close to the holidays sometimes makes me hesitate to blow so much money on makeup.

I’ve got a teenage daughter, peeps! Do you know how much shit she asks for? Not to mention the 9 year old boys love affair with Lego’s. Why do those damn things cost so much?

Anyways, I can’t resist a sale and quite frankly, my list this year is a nice mix of wants and needs. Also, all my items came from the Mini section, which really does help bring the expenses down.

I mean, let’s be honest. How many times do you find yourself going through an entire full size product? If you are my mother, that would be every time because she only buys foundation like once every 5 years. Me, on the other hand, makeup is literally coming out of everywhere.

So I gave myself a small budget, and saved some of my Ebates and Ibotta savings for this day to help bring down the expense. Hey, every little bit helps!

Let’s start with the Wants:

Natasha Denona Mini Star Eyeshadow Palette- I swatched this palette while I was in Sephora the other day and I fell in love. The shimmers are brilliant and the mattes are super creamy. Yeah, it’s about the size of a stick of gum, but I don’t care. I WANT IT!

Wander Beauty – Wanderess Off Duty Palette – I have been dying to try Wander Beauty, but nothing about their travel friendly products have ever made me fully commit. Of course, put out a warm toned palette in beautiful bronze colors and suddenly I want it all. Such a sucker!

Smashbox Photo Finish Primer Mini Trio – I would consider this a half want/half need. I am actually a big fan of their Photo Finish Primer, but I have so many primers already. However, I’ve been wanting to try their primer water for quite some time, so figured this holiday set with its cute as heck packaging, was the way to go.

The Needs. A much smaller list, but these are products that I am actually missing from my collection at this time.

NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer. Actually, in the long run, if you are a fan of this concealer, it’s actually a better deal to buy the full size version at $30 as you get 2.2 oz vs .05 in the mini, but having never tried a Nars concealer, I’m not ready to commit even though it’s always received pretty decent reviews. I’m a tarte Shape Tape Girl, but I’m willing to give this a try.

Farsali Rose Gold Oil – I’m a true believer in this little wonder and use it all the time, although sparingly, as you don’t need more than a few drops at a time. I always buy the mini as it tends to last me in between sales.

Lancôme Monsieur Big Mascara – I am totally loving the Butter London Double Decker mascara that I got in one of my Boxy charms earlier this year, however, I have gone way past the 3 month recommended expiration and I want to see if there is anything else worth looking into. I figure a mini is a good investment seeing that mascara is one thing you should not hold onto for very long.

What are you guys picking up or have picked up during the sale? Any recommendations? If so, leave them in the comments below.